Latest News From Doug Grant

When history appears to repeat itself, we must ask ourselves what we can learn. Per the FDA, fresh produce has been recalled about 40 times since 2017 – mostly fresh-cut, mostly involving Listeria monocytogenes.

Both conventional and organic farming employ finished compost to enhance tilth and provide slow-release fertilizer for crops. However, compost can also pose a risk to the food safety of fresh produce.

Let’s explore a challenging, complex and sensitive food safety question: How can our industry operate more safely in proximity to concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)?

Check all the boxes on the audit form and you are good to go, right? Unfortunately, many companies implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks had passing audit scores and still had a problem.

As important as fresh produce food safety is, we all have limited budgets to work with. As executives, we should want to know whether the food safety investments we’re making have the desired effect.

We all know there is no food safety “kill step” for fresh produce consumed in a raw state. 

We all know there is no food safety “kill step” for fresh produce consumed in a raw state. 

With the perishable nature of fresh produce, strong buyer-supplier relationships are critical to successfully get our foods from field to table.

Human nature is to resist change. But sometimes change is necessary to ensure the future.

As we all know, food safety outbreaks have a massive effect not only on growers, but on all stakeholders throughout the fresh produce supply chain.